Social nocebo1 is a contagious illness that impacts upwards of one-quarter of people who encounter it. Conditions are ripe for a rise of social nocebo in the workplace. The following are key actions that occupational safety and health pros must take to anticipate, recognize, evaluate and control social nocebo.
Dr. Fabrizio Benedetti, a professor of physiology and neuroscience at the University of Turin Medical School in Turin, Italy, is a leading researcher on social nocebo. Dr. Benedetti’s 2014 research involved a group of test subjects taken up into the Alps for a hike. Benedetti planted a thought among some hikers about headaches at high altitudes and 86 percent of subjects who thought they’d get a headache in fact got a one, compared with 52 percent in a control group.